


Of Gods and Men

by sleeping_souls



Series: Beyond the Blood and Dust [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), They need to hug it out, This ship needs more love, Thor (Marvel) Needs a Hug, a little Bruce-centric, but he talks about Thor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 02:11:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeping_souls/pseuds/sleeping_souls
Summary: In the aftermath of the war, Thor crumbles and tries to keep it in.





	Of Gods and Men

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write this story as a carry over from Infinity War and try to get behind the heads of various characters. It's not really fixing anything except maybe slightly more hopeful in tone than the end to infinity war was. This particular story is based on Thor, through Bruce's eyes... A little on the Thor/Bruce side if you will but nothing major because this is a war after all. Future stories in this series will be related to different characters and relationships. Feel free to drop requests for specific characters here or on my Tumblr— @literatureandotherstuff.

Blood and dust…..

That is what T’Challa had promised Thanos and that is exactly he had taken from them. Bruce is unsure how long he'd remained in the armour, how long he'd desperately hoped that this was all some horrendous dream and he'd wake up. He wouldn't even mind not waking up; living on Sakaar for two more years as the Hulk… he wondered if anything on Sakaar survived. But there was no way for him to return and so he had remained there, eyes closed, mind disassociated until he felt the Hulkbuster move— no it was moved.

“Banner?”

Even in a whisper, the God of Thunder had a booming voice. “Banner no…. Not….” It was the desperate pain in his voice that snapped Bruce back. He cracked open half an eye.

“Hey buddy,” he said with a mirthless smile. Thor, he saw, let out a shuddering breath. The millennia old Asgardian suddenly looked young, Bruce noticed absently. He looked pathetically young and lost, with a clenched jaw and a literal storm brewing in his eyes that threatened to spill out. “Suit’s broken, can't get out.” Thor had then grabbed him under his arms and hauled him out very gingerly. But before Bruce had so much as been able to thank him, he had been enveloped and squeezed into an embrace that seemed to want to wordlessly communicate much more than Bruce could understand. He had eventually been relinquished when Steve had very uncomfortably coughed behind them and asked if Bruce could help with recon in the lab.

They had lost more than they could hope to recover but the racoon— Rocket— tells them that his friends are in outer space and they would have some information. Then it had been endless hours of trying to get the Wankandan labs back into semi working order, and Bruce worked because it kept his mind off the death and why his had not been one of them. The Princess…. Or now Queen?.... had taken back to working for perhaps the same reasons as him. While he had earlier marveled at her intelligence, he now marvelled at her resilience as the teenager kept working through her tears and refused to be taken care of by Okoye or anyone because, “My brother is dead and you want me to sit in my room and cry? That should solve everything. Thanks Jan.” Steve had wondered who “Jan” was and that had sent a few half smiles off in the room.

Bruce had looked over at Thor who still looked like someone had ripped something off from inside him, but a little more in control now. Eventually they had brought all the systems back online, begun transmitting messages set to the right frequencies by Rocket, and hoped the Guardians’ ship still had functional communication systems. After three hours of repeating the same message into the void, three hours where he sat twiddling his thumbs impatiently behind the bright blue screen, a small voice had flickered in, sounding the trail end of a “hello”.

“You're alive you Morons!!” Rocket had jumped up from his corner and scrambled to take over the microphone from Shuri’s hand. “You’re—”

“Who's this?” And everyone in the room but Rocket had frozen because there was no mistaking the voice. Bruce had snatched the microphone and all but yelled “Tony” into it before it was Steve who had pried it away from him.

“They're all dead,” Tony had said without prelude. “It's just me and…. Nebula? Nebula.” Out of the corner of his eye he had seen Rocket teeter and slump back against the wall. Someone… Sam? Had approached to talk in low whispers but Bruce was looking at Thor once more because they needed to focus on bringing Tony back. From there it was a simple matter of Thor opening the Bifrost and coming back slightly weaker but with a limping Nebula and half conscious Tony who was clearly broken inside and out. Bruce had wondered how Tony had managed to survive but realised that Tony, by being so…. _Tony_ , had held on out of sheer stubbornness.

In speaking of stubbornness, whatever it was that had happened between Steve and Tony, had refused to sort itself out and the two had resolved to avoid each other unless it was regular briefing sessions. After a week of one or both of them leaving meetings without a second glance at the other, Thor had slammed his fist down on the table and Bruce looked at him to see the storm flare and then recede in his eyes.

“I know it sucks, man,” Bruce had said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “But that's Steve and Tony for you…. They're going to stand firm and wait for the other to move.”

“Yes but have we not lost enough for them to look and realise they must treasure what they possess now?” It had prompted Bruce to remember exactly what Thor had lost and wondered if this was less about Steve or Tony and more about Thor’s own loss. He had wanted to offer something as reassurance, comfort even but didn't know what one might say to a mighty being, who was now really and truly well alone. Instead Bruce had placed his tab on the table and walked around the table to pat Thor wordlessly on the shoulder.

Natasha had noticed because it was Natasha's job to notice things. She had caught up to him one morning, over breakfast, and Bruce had mentally balked at the normalcy of it all. As if half the world hadn't turned to dust. As if they were all just back to playing heroes in Stark tower with a bad guy every week and a shawarma after.

“So?” She had asked after helping herself to some toast. “What did happen with you and Thor?” Things with Natasha were settling into more of comfortable companionship and not awkward acquaintance. Bruce liked it. There was enough to be dealing with in any case and Natasha, he had reckoned, was good company.

“Well…. I ended up as Hulk on this planet called Sakaar, the guy who ran the place kept me as his prize pony,” Nat had winced uncomfortably at that, “and I don't remember the two years that followed but then, somehow, Thor managed to get his ass captured, battled me, managed to turn me back, break us out, defeat his sister, who by the way is Death, save half his planet, with Loki’s help or so I'm told and yeah you know, the usual.”

“You seem a lot more….” Natasha had struggled for the right word while crumbling pieces of her toast. “Free… Yeah. It looks good on you, Bruce.” As always Bruce had never known how to take the compliment and tried to come up for a rebuttal before Natasha had cut him off. “But I was talking about the touching.”

“The what?”

“You and Thor. You seem to be latching on to each other a lot. I don't remember that being a thing.” She had offered and then laughed at Bruce’s very confused face. “You idiots,” she had jumped off the stool, stuffing the last bit of her breakfast into her mouth and taking the coffee. Bruce had been left confused but allowed his thoughts to wander over to Thor. He hadn't realized there was any latching happening. Moreover he hadn't really seen much of Thor, now that they were working on different things— Thor on search and rescue with Steve, Natasha, Rhodey, Clint; who had come back to them with red eyes, set jaws and they had known not to ask; and himself on tracking the infinity stones and Thanos with it. He still had no idea what to say to comfort Thor because he has seen the storm lurking behind Thor’s eyes, although it had been reigned in well, or if he needed any comfort at all. Bruce had done what Bruce does best and stayed away. He had wondered how long Thor would be able to keep it in though.

 

And then one day it happens.

 

Thor does something as inconsequential as break one of Shuri’s drones while he's working near the border and the frustration seeps through before he has any chance of pulling it back. Once the electricity surges through his bones and incinerates the first tree he finds it easier to let it all go.

A deafening crack sounds in the lab and Shuri looks outside at the darkening sky outside. “That looks like a literal shit storm,” she says. Bruce sees the flash of blue lightning over the green Wakandan fields and vaguely remembers something similar.

“That's not a…. storm,” he peers out of the window in time to see the Ironman suit and Steve being flung backwards a good hundred metres by what looks like a small hurricane.

By the time Bruce makes it to the field with Shuri leading, he finds Tony hollering, “Point break! This isn't a good place for a breakdown,” into the distance.

Sure enough, in the center of the field is Thor, levitating in the air with his entire being engulfed in crackling blue lighting.

“A god is a little above my pay grade…” says Shuri with some resignation, still hacking away at the hologram in her hands. “Honestly, you colonisers.”

“We can't get near him,” says Steve. “Is the Hulkbuster working?” Tony shakes his head. No one had quite anticipated this.

“Bruce?” Natasha looks at him. Bruce isn't sure why or what he's supposed to do but he owes Thor. Owes him for trying even at the cost of getting pummeled, back in Sakaar.

“The Hulk?” Wonders Tony. “Yeah, that could work.”

“The Hulk is taking a sabbatical, remember?” Says Bruce and starts walking towards the blue eyed god. He still doesn't know the first place to start from but the fact that he hasn't been flown back or fried by the crackling electricity gives him some hope that he might survive this.

“Is anyone watching the same thing that I am,” says Tony, pointing wildly in Bruce's direction. “Are we just letting him go and walk into thunder and lightning and all that?! Pointbreak's going to kill him.”

“He's gotten further than any of us did,” says Steve digging his boots into the ground. “We'll get him out if we need to.”

“Did you miss the part where you, a supersoldier, and I, with a fully mechanised suit, were tossed around like rags?” Demands Tony and Natasha snaps her fingers in frustration at them.

“Shut the fuck up or I swear to God….” She doesn't finish the threat, looking back at the source of the deafening cracks of thunder. Bruce is far enough to look almost like a figurine in the distance.

Bruce isn't sure why Thor hasn't sent him packing yet but he can feel the electricity on his skin, pricking and buzzing in his ears so he stops ten meters or so away. He licks his lips and folds his hands together, wondering if it wouldn't be easier to just turn into the Hulk and fight it out with Thor. The only issuing that plan being Hulk has chosen to seal himself away and it's Bruce, left to himself, in the middle of a field in the middle of a sub-Saharan city he didn't even know existed until this began, facing an out of control God. Even in the recent scheme of days, this is definitely not a good one for him.

But Bruce hasn't been toasted yet so he decides to give this a shot.

“Hey big guy, the sun’s getting real low,” he says with a laugh. “Really, we can't see it, and it's only two pm. You wanna….” He clears his throat as the glowing blue eyes turn to him. “Help with that….” It's only when his gaze is transfixed that he realises how utterly _alien_ Thor looks. He knows rationally that Thor has always been alien in the truest sense of the word, but aside from flying around on a hammer, Bruce hadn't really put him on par with other aliens. Watching him ablaze with flashes of lightning, however, brings him back to the humbling recollection that Thor not just an alien, he's a God and a very lonely one at that.

“Look buddy, I'll level with you. I know you've lost everything, and I can't pretend to understand what it's like to lose not only your entire family but your entire planet and all its beings…. Because I don't. Hell, I'm just a scientist, man, what do I know of thrones and kings and gods.” Thor lands on the ground and Bruce takes half a step back because he hears a very audible crackle. “But, we're friends, and friends are supposed to be there for each other even if they don't understand what it's like to be a thousand years old. I've been a shitty friend man, I know and I've… I've been avoiding you because I don't know what I'm supposed to say to you.”

Thor is still glowing, and Bruce isn't even sure if he's here mentally but he pushes on.

“I still don't know what to say… except, we're here for you— I'm here for you man. We made it through Sakaar, we made it through Hela and back and we'll make it through this too. So what do you say, big guy?”

Bruce extends an arm, and it's beginning to sting with the current running through the air around him. This is it, he thinks while closing his eyes, either he's going to get fried by his friend or Hulk is going to emerge and get fried; except the feeling dissipates and Bruce feels thick drops of water hit his face.

“Banner?”

The God of Thunder doesn't look god-like anymore, hugging his arms to his chest and Bruce isn't sure if that's the rain or tears on his face. He looks frightened, and lost, staring at Bruce with an uncertainty that almost breaks his heart because Thor is not supposed to be the uncertain one, _he_ is.

“Hey man, nice to have you—” But he's cut off by Thor embracing him with the same force as he had done after being defeated by Thanos, only this time, he breaks down into uncontrollable sobs into Bruce's shoulders. “It's okay mate, let it out,” offers Bruce, awkwardly patting his back, “we'll figure this out.” He knows there's a whole world of feelings to unpack underneath the tears and they will have to eventually unpack them.

“You have not,” says Thor through choked breaths, head still bent at the same uncomfortable angle, “ been a…. shitty friend. You have been a good friend, the very best.”

Steve and the others arrive in that moment, everyone in various stages of getting drenched by the steady rain, boots squelching in the mud.

“You good there, Pointbreak?” Asks Tony from five feet in the air and only approaches once Thor has stepped aside from Bruce and even then very gingerly.

“Yes and I apologize, my friends, for hurting you.”

“No worries, buddy.” Says Clint. “Would have liked a little less rain but that's cool.”

Bruce looks around between them— the original six, and selfishly thanks whatever power allowed them to remain. He thinks it might be the same again, he sure wishes it was. He wants, for even a little while, to enjoy this, the look of relief on everyone's faces, the arm placed across his shoulders but he knows, that with half the planet— no half the universe— dead and gone, they need to get back to being _heroes_ again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll be motivated enough to continue this!


End file.
